1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to a two-dimensional display of a three-dimensional volume representation and more particulary to such a representation where designated portions of the volume may be excavated, revealing the portion immediately adjacent the excavated portion.
2. Description of the Prior Art
Prior art displays have generally involved two-dimensional cross sections of three-dimensional arrays.
In more recent prior art systems, a three-dimensional rectangular solid is displayed with the visible sides having varying color in proportion to a selected parameter in the array along those sides.
Another prior art technique is to produce movies of successive-two-dimensional cross-sections of a three-dimensional array, effectively allowing the user to "drive through" the array.
These prior art methods tend to rely on the imagination of human interpreters to mentally construct three-dimensional models of the data, based on the two-dimensional cross sections.
The colored rectangular solid displays come closet to conveying the desired three-dimensional arrangements, but still rely on imagination to appreciate the overall three-dimensional structure of the data on the basis of the sides of the rectangular solids.